Welcome To HartsbrookInspired Learning You have been looking for the place your child will flourish and your family will feel connected. Welcome to the Hartsbrook School offering Waldorf Education from birth through the twelfth grade. Hartsbrook has been a leader in the independent school movement in the Pioneer Valley for over forty years. Our graduates are known for integrated, flexible and creative thinking, high standards, and the capacity to bring ideas into the world with passion, and excellence. Our families develop lifelong connections and find support for their parenting journey. Our MissionNurturing the Unique Spirit of Each Child The Hartsbrook School is dedicated to nurturing the unique spirit of each child. Our program from early childhood through high school integrates academic, artistic, and practical work to awaken clarity of thought, warmth of heart, and strength of purpose. Through joy in learning, kinship with nature, and working in community we prepare students to meet the challenges of the future and to find purpose and meaning in their lives. More About Our ApproachInclusion and AccessOur Campus and LandTo Deeply Know a Place Hartsbrook’s campus encompasses an extraordinary 54 acres of preserved land, working farmland, woodlands, wetlands, and an ever-changing view of the Holyoke Range. Our teaching spaces include our original 1900s farmhouse, new sustainable buildings, advanced science labs, barnyards, greenhouses, and forest classrooms. Daily contact with the natural world deepens student experiences. More About Land StewardshipRead Our Land Acknowledgement and AspirationOur FacultyWorthy of Imitation Striving to be worthy of imitation and committed to excellence, Waldorf class teachers are authorities on their subject matter, as well as storytellers, musicians, artists, and actors. They are the heart of our approach. Freed from the constraints of external testing schedules, our teachers guide their students to discover and experience what is to be learned in ways unique for each class. More About our Faculty and StaffOur HistoryA Leader for 40 Years The Hartsbrook School was founded in 1981 in South Amherst by parents. The fledgling school, located on a biodynamic farm, included one teacher and a handful of kindergarteners. Today, the Hartsbrook School continues to thrive, enrolling over 260 students from early childhood through grade twelve at our campus in Hadley. More About Hartsbrook's HistoryWhat is Waldorf Education? Waldorf schools offer a developmentally appropriate, experiential, and academically rigorous approach to education. We integrate the arts into all academic disciplines for children from preschool through twelfth grade to enhance and enrich learning. Waldorf education aims to inspire life-long learning in all students and to enable them to fully develop their unique capacities. Music, dance, theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about and tested, they are experienced. Through these experiences, Waldorf students cultivate their intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual capacities to be individuals certain of their paths and to be of service to the world. Founded in the early 20th century, Waldorf education is based on the insights, teachings and principles of education outlined by the world-renowned artist and scientist, Rudolf Steiner. The principles of Waldorf education evolve from an understanding of human development that supports the needs of the growing child. Accreditations Growth Waldorf Schools are one of the fastest-growing educational movements on the globe. The Hartsbrook School is one of over 180 on this continent and approximately 1,000 world-wide. The Hartsbrook School is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 independent day school that offers a unique education for preschool and Grades K -12. The Hartsbrook School is fully accredited by the New England Association of School and Colleges (NEASC), the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE), and by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). 100 Years of Waldorf Education